Twitter and the New York Times are among the high-profile sites that
were disrupted by a sophisticated attack by a shadowy group of computer
hackers with sympathies with the Syrian regime.

The pro-Assad hacking group, the Syrian Electronic Army, has targeted media
organisations around the world in the past few months. Yesterday, it claimed
responsibility for the latest attack that took down the New York Times website
for several hours. Some Twitter services, including the sending of
photographs, were also disrupted.

The Australian company Melbourne IT, one of the world’s leading web hosting
companies, said it was the original target,